What time does the Modern Warfare 4 beta preload start?

The early access beta preload opens at 9:00am PT on 20 August for players who have pre-ordered the game or redeemed a beta code. Everyone else can preload the open beta from 9:00am PT on 26 August. The beta is a separate install, so you have to find it in your storefront and start the download manually.

How big is the Modern Warfare 4 beta download?

Activision has not published an official file size for the beta. Published reports put it around 40GB across platforms, but that figure is unconfirmed. The listing on your console or PC storefront will show the exact size once the preload window opens.

Can Nintendo Switch 2 players preload the Modern Warfare 4 beta?

Not for the first weekend. Switch 2 is excluded from early access entirely, and preloading on that platform only begins at 9:00am PT on 26 August, alongside Switch 2 pre-orders for the full game. Switch 2 players join for the open beta from 28 August.

Do I need to pre-order to play the first Modern Warfare 4 beta weekend?

Yes, or you need a beta code. Early access from 21 to 25 August requires a digital pre-order or pre-purchase on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, PS5, Steam or Battle.net, or a redeemed code. The second weekend, from 28 August to 1 September, is open to everyone with no pre-order needed.

Do Modern Warfare 4 beta rewards carry over to the full game?

The cosmetic rewards do. They are tied to your Activision account and unlock when Modern Warfare 4 launches on 23 October. Your beta player level, weapon unlocks and other in-beta progression are reset and do not carry across.

Modern Warfare 4 Beta Preload Opens at 9am PT

When the Modern Warfare 4 beta preload unlocks, and when you can play

Two clocks matter. The download window opens at 9:00am PT on 20 August, and only for players who pre-ordered, pre-purchased or redeemed a beta code. Servers come up at 11:00am PT on 21 August, straight after Activision's Call of Duty: NEXT broadcast, and early access runs until 10:00am PT on 25 August.

The second weekend drops the pre-order requirement entirely. The open beta starts at 10:00am PT on 28 August and ends at 10:00am PT on 1 September, and everyone can preload it from 9:00am PT on 26 August. That same date is when Switch 2 pre-orders for the full game go live and when Switch 2 owners can finally queue the download. If you play both weekends, you download once — the install and your progression carry from one to the other.

Why the beta will not appear in your Call of Duty install

Activision has changed how the beta is delivered. It is a standalone install rather than a mode inside the shared Call of Duty launcher, so it will not arrive with a routine update. Search your storefront for "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beta", start the download yourself, and launch it directly instead of cross-launching through the main app.

There is one platform-specific trap. On Xbox on PC, choosing Install on 20 August only pulls down a small portion of the beta; the bulk of the data does not unlock until 7:00am PT on 21 August, four hours before the servers open. Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Steam and Battle.net players get the full download from the start of the preload window.

How big is the download

Activision has not published a beta file size, so the storefront listing is the only authoritative figure once the download appears. Published reports put it near 40GB across platforms; treat that as unconfirmed. For scale, Oblivion Remastered on Switch 2 is a 61.5GB download.

If storage rather than bandwidth is the problem, the latest Xbox Insider update lets you pick which local saves to delete instead of clearing everything at once.

What the Modern Warfare 4 beta needs on PC

Infinity Ward's minimum specification asks for Windows 10 64-bit, a Ryzen 5 1600 or Core i5-8400, 12GB of RAM and a Radeon RX 470, GeForce GTX 970 or 1060, or Intel Arc A580 with 3GB of video memory. The recommended tier moves to Windows 11, a Ryzen 5 3600 or Core i7-8700, 16GB of RAM and a Radeon RX 6700 XT, RTX 3060 Ti or Arc B580 with 8GB of video memory. An SSD is required at both tiers.

The requirement most likely to stop people at the door is not the GPU. TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot must both be enabled in Windows or you cannot play the beta online — a RICOCHET anti-cheat requirement, with a Secure Attestation Wizard to check your machine. Enable both now, not at 11:00am PT on Friday.

PC also gets shader preloading for the first time in a Call of Duty beta, prepping shaders in the background after install instead of stalling you on first boot. It is active from installation on Battle.net. Steam still needs a one-time compile on first launch, so Steam players only see the benefit at the weekend two update.

What you keep afterwards

Beta rank, weapon unlocks and other in-beta progress are wiped when the test ends. The cosmetic rewards are not — they are tied to your Activision account and unlock in the full game on 23 October.

Weekend one caps you at level 20, which covers five rewards, ending in the "Dread Tiger" operator skin for Reece.
Weekend two raises the cap to level 30 and adds three more, ending in the "Beta Forged" blueprint for the ISO Nightshade SMG.
Twitch drops for watching NEXT and beta streams run in 15, 30 and 45-minute tiers, and require your Activision and Twitch accounts to be linked.
Restart prompts are reduced on PC and PS5, where most data patches no longer force a relaunch. Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2 still require one during the beta.

For what is actually playable across the two weekends — including the campaign mission, a first for the series — see our breakdown of what the Modern Warfare 4 beta includes. Anyone weighing the two shooters against each other has a free window on the other side too, since Battlefield 6 is running a free trial alongside update 1.4.2.0. And if you want a sense of how these tests usually run on Xbox, the Gears of War: E-Day open beta followed a similar two-stage structure.